Stephen Jackson

Down at halftime and without fellow All-Star DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry took over in the 2nd half, carrying the Raptors to an overtime victory against the Pelicans. He hit a big time step back jumper with just 4.3 seconds to play to secure the win. Lowry finished with 33 points, 10 assists, 4 rebounds, and a season-high 6 threes.

After returning to the court on Sunday, DeRozan experienced swelling in his ankle, forcing him to sit Tuesday’s game. He’s already been ruled out for Wednesday’s game, giving Lowry another chance at monster scoring numbers.

Known for pouring it on in stretches, it was his 3rd straight 30+ point game, the longest streak of his career. Had he scored 1 more point last Wednesday, he’d have a streak of 5 games. You’re already starting Lowry regardless, but the loss of DeRozan really ups Lowry’s value.

The league is pretty stacked with quality Centers, but every so often, one has the need to scour the lower model machines to see if they can find value. Tiago Splitter had 3 blocks last night, but otherwise finished with a pedestrian 7 points, 3 boards and a steal.

In the preseason, people were asking me if they should take Serge Ibaka in the third round or the fourth round, as if those were the only two options. Sure, he’s great with the blockin’ and all, but I do not consider him a well rounded Center.

Maybe I’m bad luck and every time I post there are a bunch of guys who get injured. Or maybe this season is just too whacky. Whatever the case may be, there was alot of players who didn’t play last night due to injuries or some other reason.

I spent some time away from the computer yesterday. I needed a little me time, a little time for Josh to be Josh. So I got my favorite sandwich from Subway. Curled up by the fire with a glass of wine and my favorite John Grisham novel.

I thought about naming this post “The Buck Swaps Here,” but then I realized that no one cares about the Bucks. Which means that Monta Ellis is dead to the NBA fan. It was a nice run. We all shared some laughs and we’ll remember the good times.

It’s time to start calculating whether eight weeks of the best free agent left in your league pool is better than five weeks of Manu Ginobili, ’cause that looks to be the sitch, mes amis. That’s assuming those five weeks are top-notch Manu and I’m not getting that kind of vibe.

Chris Kaman is back in the starting lineup and should be back in your lineu,p too . He should have been in all lineups last night, but I can’t eat anyone’s lunch for keeping him out one game to see what he’d do.

Leading up to last night’s game, it was fairly unclear who would make up for Danilo Gallinari‘s minutes, or if not minutes, his production. If Corey Brewer can go 16/5/3 in 7 mpg, God bless him. But he can’t, so the Nuggets are a game of Clue, right now.

We’ve let this go on long enough; this Paul George wreckin’ crew situation. He’s killing it lately, and if he’s on your fantasy team, he’s killing it for you lately. And if he’s not on your team, you might not have noticed how he killed you lately.